Our mission in life is to train ourselves to see the truth of every situation. We are tasked with making things better by working on recognizing what is truly in front us. Of course, this can be quite the challenge. In this short one liner, Rebbe Nachman tells us quite simply about the danger of falsehood:
כב. הַשֶּׁקֶר מַזִּיק לָעֵינַיִם בְּגַשְׁמִיּוּת וּבְרוּחָנִיּוּת: (לק”א סי’ נא)
Falsehood damages the eyes — physically and spiritually.
By being exposed to falsehood, we experience two concurrent problems. One is that we become susceptible to not seeing the world for what it is objectively is. As we know from a lot of modern psychological literature, we constantly deal with a variety of confirmation biases, including that we are often predisposed to what we see in front of us based on the experiences of the moment. For example, if we are thinking about buying a red car, all of a sudden we see red cars everywhere, causing us to presume that all of a sudden there are an extraordinary amount of red cars. Objectively this is not true but our perception is biased.
Spiritually, falsehood can also damage the mind’s eye. It can lead us to stray off a path. There is a well known explanation for the verse we recite in Shema:
וְלֹֽא־תָת֜וּרוּ אַחֲרֵ֤י לְבַבְכֶם֙ וְאַחֲרֵ֣י עֵֽינֵיכֶ֔ם אֲשֶׁר־אַתֶּ֥ם זֹנִ֖ים אַחֲרֵיהֶֽם׃
so that you do not follow your heart and eyes in your lustful urge.
Numbers 15:39
Why does it say follow the heart and then the eyes? We would presume that first we need to see and then it will come into our hearts. The reason it says heart first is because if the heart desires something, then the eye will see it. If we are struggling with spiritual falsehood, we will be more likely to struggle with the results of how the struggle changes our perceptions spiritually.
As we work on our spiritual growth, may we find ways to avoid seeing the falsehoods around us and only strive to work toward truth seeing.
Are you struggling with your spiritual growth? Faith? Feeling lost in the midst of the journey of life? Contact New Beginnings Spiritual Coaching and Consulting LLC at 732-314-6758 ext. 100 or via email at newbeginningsspiritualcoach@gmail.com
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